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G8 leaders seek to answer critics of globalization |
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July 22, 2000
NAGO, Okinawa (AP) - The world's major industrial countries opened their annual economic summit on Friday, hoping to provide a decisive rebuttal to critics of globalization by producing specific programs aimed at bridging the yawning gap between the world's rich and poor. Leaders of the world's seven wealthiest countries - the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada - held a series of one-one-one talks among themselves before the formal start of their economic discussions at a newly constructed conference center with a magnificent view of the Pacific Ocean. After first meeting with U.S. President Bill Clinton, Russian President Vladimir Putin will join the rich countries at a Friday night dinner focused on foreign policy issues. Putin's talks with Clinton were expected to focus Russia's strong objections to a proposed missile defense system the United States is considering. To bolster his case, Putin made stops in China and North Korea on his way here to pick up support from the leaders of those countries against the American missile defense shield. France and Germany also have opposed the defense system, and on Friday German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said, "I'm skeptical about it." Speaking to reporters traveling with him, Schroeder stressed that America can do what it believes are in its national interests, but that it should discuss the issue with NATO and Russia. All of the leaders' economic discussions were aimed at providing an answer to thousands of protesters who took to the streets in Seattle, Washington, last December and in Washington in April to press their complaints that globalization, the increased flow of trade and investment capital between nations, was helping rich countries but leaving millions of the world's poor in deepening poverty. Clinton had a different kind of protester on his mind when he arrived early Friday morning following a 13{-hour flight from Washington. In a speech at a park dedicated to the memory of those lost during one of the fiercest battles of World War II, the president sought to dampen the anger of Okinawans unhappy about America's huge military presence on this small island. "We take seriously our responsibility to be good neighbors, and it is unacceptable to the United States when we do not meet that responsibility," Clinton said. He pledged "to reduce our footprint on this island" by continuing to implement 27-step process Japan and the United States agreed to five years ago to consolidate American bases on the island. A small group of demonstrators shouting "get rid of the bases" was kept far away from the U.S. president Friday. The day before, tens of thousands of demonstrators formed a human chain around a major American air base on the island. Clinton arrived here after nine days of tense negotiations over the Middle East at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, and aides suggested that Clinton might cut short his stay in Okinawa to hurry back to the peace talks. Clinton's speech was delivered at the Cornerstone of Peace memorial, inscribed with the names of 237,318 people - soldiers and civilians on both sides - who died during the battle for Okinawa, one of the fiercest of World War II. He was accompanied to Okinawa by his daughter Chelsea, while his wife Hillary stayed home to campaign for a U.S. Senate seat from New York. Clinton is the first U.S. president to visit Okinawa since Dwight Eisenhower made a one-day stop in 1960. The United States returned these southern islands to Tokyo's control in 1972 but still retains a high military profile, with 26,000 troops stationed here and bases occupying about 20 percent of Okinawa. While the local economy benefits from the American presence, Okinawans are angry about crimes ranging from thefts and assaults to rapes and killings. Tens of thousands staged anti-military protests five years ago when three U.S. servicemen abducted and raped a 12-year-old girl. Days before Clinton's visit, a drunken, 19-year-old Marine was arrested for allegedly breaking into a local home and climbing into bed with a sleeping schoolgirl. Clinton said Okinawa has played a vital role in allowing peace to endure, but he acknowledged that Okinawa did not ask to play that role, housing more than 50 percent of American forces in Japan on less than 1 percent of the country's land mass. Officials are hoping the summit, the 26th in a series that began in 1975 as a response to a global oil crisis, will put Okinawa on the international tourism map. The Japanese government has put the cost of the summit at dlrs 750 million, including security, construction and road repairs. |
